Oh, dear. We're apparently experiencing "an infertility epidemic" -- and I thought swine flu was still all the rage. Even cancer.
But according to Sherman Silber (Infertility Center of St Louis' director), we're smack dab in the middle of a -- depending on which definition you choose -- widely prevalent event that may or may not have spread rapidly to affect many individuals in a population at the same time.
Hm. Okay, I guess technically and in a really scientifically dry way, the incidence of infertility could be referred to as being in epidemic proportions. Seems a stretch to me, though, to use such terminology in this day and age when far scarier things are diffusing through the world. Besides the aforementioned health problems, how about unemployment?
Dr. Silber's not new to romancing the press, and he's had a special focus on avant garde fertility preservation techniques for awhile now. His most recent cry for alarm was published by MSNBC in this Associated Press piece about his attempts at whole ovary cryopreservation.
I don't have a problem with fertility preservation, even though this particular technique seems a tad outlandish. Some of the report's statements -- like about "fighting" biological clocks and how it's "typical" to remove/reimplant ovaries to avoid cancer treatment's toxicity -- make me curious about which AP editor wrote this report. Still I'm glad to hear Pasquale Patrizio of Yale introduce his brand of balanced foresight to the conversation.
I expect hype in marketing pieces, not in AP stories. But I'm keeping my eyes peeled for more since it's ESHRE time.
I'm also still looking for a swine flu comeback.
Comments